My Life at the Institute
by Sun.Swipe.98
Summary: Have you ever felt…different from other? Like you don't belong? If so, you know exactly where Hope is coming from. Follow her whacked adventures at the Xavier Institute, where she might finally find where she belongs. Rated T for paranoia. My first story, please be nice!
1. Prologue

Look, I'll make this simple for you. Mutants are out there, and they're real. By mutants, I don't mean a cute fuzzy kitty cat with different colored eyes. I mean people, not so different from you, with unique powers that makes them different from normal people. We mutants aren't something that should be taken lightly. A lot of us don't know what to do with ourselves. We're scared and confused, wondering what we did to deserve this fear and hatred from those who were once our friends. I feel like I've blabbered on enough. How about I introduce myself? My name is Hope Williams. I don't like my name, but it's not like I can just call myself something else. Well, actually I could, but that would be too much work. Anyways, I was your average girl, sort of. I was never really good with people, preferring to nerd out over my Star Trek and stuff like that. Then came the day my mutation showed up. I suddenly can demolish a building like it's nothing and my parents kick me out of the house, my friends cut all ties with me, and I'm all alone. Really great beginning for a fifteen year old, huh? Okay, so my birthday was a month away when I mutated, but that's not my point. My point is…I was a fifteen year old freak with no idea what to do or if I should just give up. That was around when the telepathic man in the wheelchair, Prof. Charles Xavier came around. So...here's my story, which could just as easily become yours. I guess I should start with my mutation. 


	2. Chapter 1: Geeks and Freaks

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. There you go.

I whistled absently to myself as I walked for the mall, where I would meet up with my two best friends. A sudden weight on my back caused me to shriek.

"Where have you been? I've missed you!" Brianna, my best friend since Pre-k, said excitedly. She's a very hyper person. Word of advice, never give that girl any form of coffee unless you want to run away from her, screaming for your life.

"C'mon, guys! We should've been scaring small children with our fabulousness by now!" Dylan, my other best friend, said before grabbing both our arms and tugging Brianna and I along that much faster.

"No! You need to walk faster!" Dylan insisted, pulling harder to make me walk faster. He's so mean sometimes.

"So, first I was thinking we could go look for some new clothes for you, and then we can stuff ourselves with food. How does that sound?" Brianna asked excitedly.

"Sounds absolutely perfect." I grinned; Brianna's excitement was so contagious.

"You forgot terrorizing small children!" Dylan interrupted.

"Silly me!" Brianna said, totally straight faced for a second before she started laughing. Brianna was weird like that sometimes; she found the most random things funny.

At first, I had a ton of fun. Then, fate or whatever decided to knock me around.

A really weird guy, like, kinda hoboish* and throw in a cat obsession, walked in, eyes immediately zeroing in on myself and my friends. A feral smirk took over his features, and he walked in our direction.

Somehow, it freaked me out a little to figure out how at the time, the guy jumped from the ground floor to hang in front of me. Brianna screamed when she saw him, running away and yelling about Romulans invading earth and to call for Spock. That's another thing about my friends and I; we all like then new Star Trek movie*.

"Don't struggle, and I won't have to hurt you." Creep said, reaching right for me. Why me, out of all the staring and screaming people in the mall? Was my luck really that bad?

I backed away from the creep, feeling fear start to almost choke me. The creep even let out a growl that sounded like a big cat, like a lion or something. "What part of don't struggle is hard to understand?" Creep snarled.

"Um…this isn't struggling. This is backing away from the deranged guy apparently after me." I squeaked, backing up even further. This guy needed a pretty white room with a matching jacket. Big time.

"You're really starting to tick me off, kid. Not the smartest thing to do in this situation." Creep told me, that feral look on his face never leaving. It was really starting to freak me out, this guy coming after me and threatening me like I had personally insulted him.

Dylan, my stupid loyal friend, jumped the guy from behind and my fight or flight instinct went off in my head. I chose flight. Abandoning the bags I had actually carried, I ran down the escalator without falling on my face, bolting for the front entrance. The mall was fairly small, considering the town wasn't the biggest one out there. I was just thankful to be able to be outside, where there was more space to back away from the creepy guy from the mall if he showed up again.

I didn't know where I was running. My feet seemed to go on autopilot, taking me closer to home. I never made it there. The creep came back, looking ticked off at me. Oh, I was so dead.

"I'm running out of patience, kid. Do you want this to turn messy?" Creep snarled, probably wanting to strangle me if his flexing fist was anything to go by. I swallowed, feeling a cold sweat popping up.

"Well, if you don't want this to be messy, why don't you leave me alone?" I asked, trying to sound brave. It came out as a squeak.

"Money is money, kid. Any you? You're worth a lot of it." Creep said, looking excited at the very thought. A deep rumbling, like a motorcycle, came down the road. Both of us turned to see one of the weirdest people I have ever seen, aside from the guy that was after me. He was wearing this orange and black uniform, kinda like what you'd expect from a comic book geek.

He looked at the both of us, only looking momentarily at me before he turned to my follower. "Sabertooth. Doesn't seem like your style to follow little kids around." the new guy said, snarl fixed on his face.

"Wolverine. As much as I'd love to have our usual chat, I have other business to attend to." I wondered for a second what these guy's 'usual business' was, then my brain started shouting at me to focus on the real problem.

The new guy, apparently Wolverine, snarled, three claws extending from his hands. I may have squeaked a little bit. But only a little.

"Run, kid!" Wolverine told me, leaping straight into Sabertooth. As far as I knew, they were still a snarling, clawing mass when I turned the corner.

I was so freaking out, there was no sugar coating that. A freak with major issues was after me, I was saved by a guy with wicked sharp looking claws coming from his hands, and I seriously needed a giant container of fries. What? I eat when I get stressed! It's not like it's some huge crime!

I wasn't paying attention very well, because I ran face first into someone and fell hard on my back. "Ow!" I complained, getting slowly to my feet. I looked up to apologize, when I saw the glowing cards in the guys hands.

"Hey, petite. You come with Gambit, eh? Gambit don't wanna hurt you none." the guy, apparently referring to himself in the third person, said.

I jumped up and started backing away, keeping an eye out for any escape route. "Guess that's a no?" Gambit asked, sighing. "Gambit didn't wanna do this."

For some odd reason, Gambit threw a card at me, the Jack I think. I figured out really fast what that little card did.

The freaking thing blew up and tossed me through a wall, though I didn't feel it very much. What I did feel was the smack as my head hit the ground hard, followed by the chunks of house that started falling. I threw my hands up, hoping vainly to protect my face and praying I wouldn't be squished too badly.

The squished feeling never came.

I cracked my eyes open, staring in disbelief at the giant piece of ceiling I was holding up. I couldn't even feel the weight of it. My brain halted. How…how was this even possible? I shoulda been a Hope pancake!

Testing this strange, and obviously adrenaline fueled (I hoped) strength, I shoved the chunks of plaster away from me. It narrowly avoid Gambit, who was walking over to me. Or, where the house used to be.

"Woah!" Gambit exclaimed, dropping under the plaster.

I coulda stayed and stared like an idiot at what I had caused. Thankfully, my brain worked and I booked it for home.

Why couldn't I just be normal for once? Was that too much to ask? 


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I was going to own something, it would be Spock. Or Captain Kirk. Or possibly both. In the last chapter, I put two of these things: *. here's what they mean:

Hoboish is a word that my class made up in English. It just basically means the person looks like a hobo.

The Star Trek thing just means that I wanted to put something Star Trek related in there. The reason Brianna was talking about Romulans and Spock is because SHE IS PRACTICALLY INSANE WHEN ON SUGAR. What would you do if some freaky guy that you did not notice suddenly pops up in front of you and starts growling? Anyways, I loved the 2009 Star Trek movie they made. If you haven't seen it, go watch it right now! Your life isn't complete if you haven't seen it.

Sorry about the whole, bunched into one paragraph. I don't know what's up with that, and I AM trying to figure it out. It's just slow going right now.

Also, I apologize about my weird chapters, and my possibly strange updating schedule. I can't upload an entire chapter all at once. I have to break it into parts. I blame my iPod. As for my schedule, thanks to morons in my English class, I have to write an essay every day for the next 3-4 weeks.

Anyways, here's the chapter.

I was breathing heavily by the time I was standing on my front porch. My head was buzzing from lightheadedness, terror, and awe. No way could a normal person lift that much weight! Well, unless you were like some bodybuilder hoped up on steroids. Which I WASN'T! I was a lazy person who never really lifted anything heavier than a tv remote!

Finally, I reached my house. Why couldn't the mall have been closer to my house? My life would be so much simpler. I barged inside, probably giving my mom a mini heart attack.

"Hope! What's wrong?" my mom asked, coming over to me from the dishes.

"I don't know. This freaky guy with major issues was following me, and then this cajun guy attacked me, and I broke a building, an-"

"You broke a WHAT?!" my mom interrupted.

"A building." I said, very near the point of hyperventilation. Was there something wrong with me? Did I need a doctor? Or a specialist? Right, who specializes in fifteen year old girls being able to lift parts of a building like it weighed as much as a paper clip?

"I swear, if you and your friends were messing around with your little…Space Trek things again-"

"Star Trek, mom! It's Star Trek!"

"Whatever! If you 'broke' it with those little gadgets you made, then you are so grounded, young lady!" Mom snapped, throwing her dish towel down.

"Mom, I didn't mess with my Star Trek stuff, and Bri and Dylan weren't involved at all." I insisted, wishing my mom would just listen for once.

"Then please explain to me how you broke a building!" mom shouted, quite loudly, at me.

"I don't know! The exploding card the Cajun guy threw at me knocked me back and the house kinda just…broke?" I said, thinking my lame excuse wouldn't convince my mom.

My mom snorted in a mix of amusement at my crazy story and anger for trying to get away with breaking a house with such a lame excuse. "Nice try young lady. March, to your room now!" I was pushed towards the stairs, spluttering in outrage for being pushed aside, again, and told to go to my room for some crazy story that was actually the truth.

Supper was kinda tense that night. My mom was still annoyed with me and my story. My dad was oblivious, stuffing his face with the hamburgers my mom made. I was hoping to slip away after I finished eating, though it seemed fate couldn't get enough of making me miserable. My mom grabbed my wrist and pulled me back into my seat.

"Why don't you tell your father what you told me earlier, Hope?" mom asked icily.

"Before you do, did you hear about the old Mitchell place? Apparently, it collapsed today. No one knows why, either." dad said, never turning away from his burger.

"Actually, that was probably me." I admitted. I was in the right area, and that was probably the only house that would fall down easily…

Mom scowled angrily at my dad. "You're just encouraging her, Jack! Hope comes home and tells me this whacky story about how she broke a building, and your only making things worse!"

My dad turned to us and stared innocently. "What'd I do?" Clearly, he was confused.

"Hope, go upstairs." Mom said, pointing towards the door. Feeling a sense of dread, I went to the stairs and listened.

"What are we gonna do, Jack? My daughter is turning into some kind of freak! Breaking an entire building? We have to call someone!" mom insisted, furiously pacing from the sound of heels clicking on linoleum.

"You think I know what to do? Maybe we should let the police handle it." dad suggested.

"Right. Perfect. We don't speak of this to anyone. In the morning, the police will come and I won't have to worry about anything." mom said.

My parents were gonna hand me over to the police? For a little accident? Okay, so it was really really BIG accident, but that's not the point! This was so not happening. I could hurt people.

Wow. That's something I've never had to worry about before. It's kinda…weird.

Dang it I'm getting distracted again! Back on topic, what was I thinking? Oh yeah, anyways if I didn't want to hurt people, I would have to run away. Before today, I had never even thought about running away. Guess this was just a day of firsts, huh? I mean, I get followed by a creepy hobo, a guy throws exploding cards at me, I break a building, and now I'm running away. Yippee.

With my plan in my head, I crept stealthily up to my room and grabbed my gym bag. Clothes got stuffed in without really being looked at, followed by several of my movies that I couldn't part with. Trust me, I would probably die if I couldn't nerd out every once in awhile. If I brought my movies, I could have the possibility of seeing them. Get my logic here?

I glanced around my room one last time. I would probably never see this place again. Aside from the slightly emptier dresser and movies missing from my shelf, no one would ever know the difference. For all they knew, I could be out at the mall for a few hours and could be back any minute. Good, no one would suspect I was gone immediately.

I turned to my window, quietly opening it, and jumping to the tree that grew close to the house. Thankfully, it held my weight long enough for me to drop to the ground. I took off running, never looking back at the place that I grew up in. Nothing good could come from me staying there anymore.

That's how I lived for several months, before my life changed, before the Professor found me. 


	4. Chapter 4: I Meet Some New Faces

Disclaimer: I don't own, that's it. Although, I wouldn't mind having a Nightcrawler. Might be pretty useful. And to GaredBattlespike (shout out to you, my first follower), I figured it out! My previous chapters have been fixed, or they should be, so now there're paragraphs. I also managed to figure out how to upload the entire chapter in one go so I'm very proud of myself right now.

Sorry this took so long to get up! This chapter seriously did not want to be written. I don't know how many times I stared at my screen for who knows how long before I just said 'Screw it' and did something else.

Quick question right now, what should Hope's codename be? I'm having trouble with that, so tell me in a review! I'm open to suggestions.

Here's the chapter, folks.

It had been a few months since the incident that caused me to run away. I had done some stuff I wasn't proud of in that time, but I had to survive.

There had been no sign of Sabertooth, Gambit, or Wolverine in that time, which I was thankful for. I didn't need any more crazy, thank you very much. I couldn't deal with anything else.

I stilled where I was leaning against a building in some trash strewn alley as a police cruiser went by. I was not taking any chances with them finding me. They would lock me away forever, or if I got REALLY lucky I could become a human lab rat. Note my sarcasm there.

I almost decided to skip town completely after I ran away, but something told me to stay where I was. The sense of familiarity was a comfort for me, even if I was living on the streets and eating out of McDonalds dumpsters.

The cruiser passed my hiding place in moments, apparently (and thankfully) not seeing me at all. The patrols used to not bother me, when a cop would randomly drive down my street. Now? It was quite possibly one of the single most annoying things, constantly having to duck behind something unless I wanted to be caught.

Honestly, I was surprised I had survived four, maybe five months out here on my own. Guess I just adapted easier than most people would. Although, the whole super strength thing really helped. I'd had to use it once or twice already on some punks that followed me for a few hours, back when I was first out here. I hadn't had any trouble since.

Something reached my ears, a slight shuffle somewhere in the alley. I looked around wildly, trying to find the noise. Nothing that I could see, but I still felt uneasy. It felt like someone was watching me, had been for awhile now. I felt like this sometimes, but I never got used to it.

I shook off the feeling, hoping I wouldn't regret that. I had more important issues right now, namely what I would eat for the day. I could try McDonalds again. I would just have to wait until after most of the employees were occupied, which wouldn't be for a few hours. I swear, those guys are like clockwork. I knew exactly when they would be off on a smoke break or too busy to notice a kid jumping in their dumpster.

I almost left to head over to the fast food joint, when something made me stop. To this day, I still don't know what made me stop. Maybe it was the Professor, maybe it wasn't. I'll never know for sure.

Something, other than me, was in the alley. I couldn't see it just yet, but I knew it was there. That's the good thing about living in alleys and constantly looking over your shoulder; you become more aware of your surroundings.

I looked around, slowly, trying to figure out where this person was, finally noticing the strange shadow by the dead end wall. Slowly, I bent down and grabbed one of the chunks of rock I kept near in case I needed a weapon. I chucked the thing, waiting only long enough to make sure it hit something. Part of the rock shattered into tiny pieces, while another part stuck almost an inch into the brick. I ran as soon as I heard the surprised 'Woah!'

Not many people were out on the streets, most either in school or at work. Unfortunately, that meant I would be easily spotted by my follower. The good thing was, I could all out sprint without running into too many people.

I headed for the park, there were a few trees and other hiding places I could use. That would be my best bet, considering I would fall over if I tried to go any farther than that. Of course, I might not even make it that far. I could trip and get caught by this mysterious person following me. Or I might just pass out on the sidewalk.

Yep, I'm a total optimist. Can't you just tell?

Thankfully, there was no passing out or tripping, and I made it to the park just fine. Of course, I never accounted for the helicopter or the guy in the wheelchair in my plan.

"Ah! Hope, I'm glad you made it here just fine." the guy in the wheelchair, how the heck did he know my name?, said pleasantly.

A woman in some strange suit with long white hair touched down on the grass behind me. Must've been another person like me.

"Storm." Wheelchair guy said in greeting. "Now, I'm sure you're wondering why you were led here."

I felt lightheaded. How could this guy know what I wanted to ask? This was more than a little freaky.

"Who are you?" I finally asked.

"My name is Charles Xavier. We're both like you, Hope, in the sense that we have special gifts like you do." Xavier introduced, looking completely at ease.

"Oh really? What can you do, then?" I asked.

"~I am a telepath, a mind reader if you will. Storm can, like her namesake, manipulate weather to her wish.~" Xavier's voice, strange and echoey, sounded in my head.

"How did you…what the…you just talked in my head!" I was so freaking over some random guy in my head. It was beyond weird and so not what I was used to.

"I trained to control my ability. In fact, I run a school for gifted people that desire to control their gifts so that they can help people." Xavier said, somehow weaving an offer into the explanation.

"So, this school of yours…where is it?" I asked curiously.

"Bayville. There are a few students your age there. Scott Summers, Jean Grey. I always have space for new students."

I spent a lot of energy thinking about what I was going to do. Stay here on the streets and starve? Or go to some school where it sounded like everything was provided for?

Yeah, that was a tough choice.

"Alright. What the heck, why not. Let's see this school." I said, walking a little closer.

And that, folks, is when I fainted from the exhaustion and lack of food and water. Great way to start off on this little adventure.

**So, what do you guys think? Send me a review for codename ideas, please! I appreciate reviews, guys. You CAN send them in, they help me a lot. Tell me if you see a mistake, where I could improve, stuff like that. There's probably a time skip of a few years next. After this, it's probably just following the cartoon slightly. If you don't like that, sorry. No one is forcing you to read. Until next time. **


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